Somali pirates free S. Korea sailors 'for ransom'

SEOUL — Four South Korean sailors held hostage by Somali pirates for nearly 19 months were freed Saturday, Seoul's foreign ministry said after a ransom was reportedly paid for their release.
SEOUL — Four South Korean sailors held hostage by Somali pirates for nearly 19
months were freed Saturday, Seoul's foreign ministry said after a ransom was
reportedly paid for their release.

"The four Korean crew members of the
MT Gemini have been released," the ministry said in a statement, adding the
sailors were being taken to safety aboard a South Korean navy ship.

The
release followed an agreement between Singapore firm Glory Ship Management which
owns the MT Gemini and the pirates, it said without elaboration.

But
Yonhap quoted an unidentified foreign ministry official as saying that the
ministry had assisted in ransom talks between the boat's owner and the pirates,
but declined to say how much had been paid for their release.

The tanker
was carrying 28,000 tonnes of crude palm oil from Indonesia to Kenya when it was
hijacked on April 30 last year.

Seven months later, the pirates freed the
vessel and released all 21 non-Korean crew members while keeping the four
Koreans captive.

In return for their release, they had called for the
release of five other Somali pirates who were captured in a South Korean naval
operation earlier last year and sentenced to long prison terms.

The
waters off Somalia are notorious for pirate attacks but the presence of several
navy task forces has seen such incidents fall sharply this year